November 15, 2012 11:58am ESTNovember 15, 2012 10:56am ESTKurt Busch's bad-boy image got even worse this season with a series of controversial incidents. Busch reflects on those incidents, including his confrontations with a Sporting News reporter, in Thursday's "Outlaw" documentary on Speed.

Sporting News

Published on Nov. 15, 2012

Nov. 15, 2012

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kurt Busch will address his bad-boy image and the controversies that have surrounded him in the last year tonight in “Kurt Busch The Outlaw,” a Speed documentary about the talented driver who always seems to find himself in trouble.

“The last nine months have been a whirlwind—a whirlwind that happens when you open the plug on the bottom of your tub and the water starts to go through,” Busch said.

“That’s what happened to my career. God gave me a talent to drive racecars. And there’s been times where I’ve abused that privilege. I’ve created my own situations but I can’t get over them as fast as others.”

Busch talks about each of the controversial incidents he was involved in this season—the confrontation at Darlington Raceway in May with Ryan Newman’s crew, which landed him on probation; the June incident at Dover when he was suspended for threatening Sporting News reporter Bob Pockrass; and an incident at Talladega in October when he drove away from an accident scene while surrounded by a safety crew.

At Dover, Busch and Justin Allgaier made contact during the Nationwide Series race and had words afterward. Busch was asked by Pockrass if he had to adjust how he raced Allgaier because he was on probation.

Busch responded that being on probation kept him from “beating the (expletive) out of you right now.” NASCAR suspended him for one race the following week.

“I had just gone through this full race of (looking) in my windshield, communicating with the team, working the best that I could, muscling a fourth-place finish out of it, and he (Pockrass) hands me this bull---- question about being on probation and racing Allgaier differently,” Busch said.

“Which, the Allgaier thing happened 200 laps ago. It happened on Lap 1. And the first thing that comes out of my mouth is just, ‘blah.’ It came out of my mouth of, ‘I need to kick your ass.’”

Busch said he knew he was in trouble after the interview.

“After I got off of pit road, I told Rick Ren, the team manager for Kyle (Busch Motorsports), ‘I think something serious is going to happen. I think I just screwed up completely,’” Busch said. “He said, ‘What did you do? What did you say?’

“(I said) I think I told Pockrass I wanted to kick his ass, but I don’t even know.”

Busch said NASCAR didn’t want to suspend him but was worried that the media would rip NASCAR for not suspending him.

“Being forced to sit away, it is the moment of am I going to continue to fight this battle? Or should I just walk away?” Busch said.

The suspension was “a very gloomy point for me,” Busch told Speed. “The suspension really taught me, to take a step back and go, this is that moment of, ‘You can’t keep screwing up,’” Busch said. “You know, treat the media with respect, and maybe they’ll start getting off of you.”

Busch said if makes the NASCAR Hall of Fame some day, the highlights of his career would focus primarily on his problems and things he did wrong. “I’m done fighting the battle,” Busch said. “My image is what it is. It’s who they say that I am. I’ve lived two lives it seems like the last, … three years. And whatever they write is whatever they write. I’m done fighting the battle.”